1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an integrated circuit gate driver for driving MOSgated power devices used in motor controller and other applications and, more specifically, to a novel driver IC for a motor controllers application which prevents the simultaneous turn on of high side and low side MOSgated devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gate driver integrated circuits for control of MOSgated power devices, such as from MOSFETs, IGBTs, gate controlled thyristors and the like are well known. It is also known that in circuits using high-side and low side MOSgated devices, such as motor controllers, that the two MOSgated devices cannot be on at the same time, which would create a direct short circuit or "shoot-through" condition.
Many circuits are known to prevent this shoot-through condition. However, these circuits are complex; are not easily adjusted by a customer or for a particular application; have a relatively large power dissipation and are not accurate.
It would be desirable to produce a shoot-through prevention circuit which is simple, has smaller power dissipation and can be accurately and easily programmed by a user.